After I published my last post on how our world has become smaller during the Covid-19 crisis I was asked about how this compares to previous years. Well, I have all the data and with some python scripts this question can be answered.
The histogram shows the percentage of blips taken within a radius of 20km of my home in Edinburgh during the lockdown period starting 2020-03-17 until the start of the Scottish phase 3 on 2020-07-10. The pre-Covid19 data are from the same period (17th March until 10th July) in previous years. The peak of pre-Covid19 blips at 20km indicates that I have taken a number of blips outside the 20km radius.
This histogram isn't that illuminating. During the Covid19 lockdown I took more images closer to home (mostly the pictures from Newington Cemetery) and pre-lockdown I took more images from a bit further away (probably Kings Buildings where I work).
Looking at the map confirms that I take most blips within Edinburgh. The second maps shows that I get to go the exciting places in Europe occasionally.
In summary, the spatial distribution of blips mostly reflects the fact that we do not have a car and I take most of my blips within walking/cycling distance. Lockdown did stop us from leaving Edinburgh. I wrote earlier that the Covid19 pandemic did not affect us that much. Obviously we are very lucky to have stayed healthy and we are very privileged not to have lost our jobs. However, I do think that the pandemic did not change our regular movements all that much. We stopped using the bus altogether which we regularly used to before the pandemic. However, the distances are easily covered by foot or bike. We even found new places in Edinburgh on our wanderings.